Still Human
by Lynn Jones
Summary: It's been a week since Lexi was nearly killed by Airachnid. Ratchet saved her life...but how? At what cost? How does Lexi's younger sister Laura factor in to everything? And what the slag is up with the weird Mustang? Sequel to Ratchet's Human. No longer on hold as long as people keep reminding me to update! And as long as people review. I love reviews.
1. Chapter 1

**Thank you to Blitz-Krazi-1 for prompting me to do a sort of follow-up. You're right, it was getting good. So this one's for you!**

**Fair warning, this will only be a couple of chapters while I work on some bigger storylines – and Desert Sunrise.**

**Disclaimer: Lexi squished it. Luckily, I had a spare: I own only Lexi.**

Chapter 1: New Strength

Lexi let out a frustrated yell as, rather than come off like it was supposed to, the oil filter crumpled in her grip, spraying oil everywhere. She threw the now-useless part on the ground and glared up at the undercarriage of her poor Malibu, which had been retrieved from her (former) home and brought to the Autobots' base. After all, she couldn't expect the Autobots to taxi her to and from everywhere she needed to go.

Not that she had seen the outside of their base since her near-death at the hands of Airachnid. She didn't have the hang of her somewhat-new body yet, so she hadn't felt ready to brave the outside world.

"You all right, Lexi?" Ratchet inquired gruffly. The Autobot medic – whom Lexi had repaired and befriended when the Decepticons had attacked him and left him for dead – was working on the groundbridge controls again. Lexi wished she could help him with his work, but if she could smash an oil filter with her bare hands on accident, who knew what kind of damage she would do to the delicate electronics of the groundbridge.

"I'm fine. I still don't know my own strength, is all," she sighed. She brushed hair out of her eyes – it had escaped her ponytail – and smeared oil across her forehead in the process. She closed her eyes.

_I wish I wasn't so strong,_ she thought grimly. _I can't even work on my own slagging car._ Ever since Ratchet had had to "replace" most of her organic inner workings with "synthetic substitutes" – which he had refused to elaborate on – she had felt strange in her own body. She was stronger now, not just in her arms, but everywhere. When she moved, she felt stiff and yet more limber than she could ever remember being. And when she breathed, she almost imagined she could hear air rushing through something other than what it had before. Even her heartbeat felt different. Slag, even _thinking_ felt different.

And she couldn't stand to so much as smell food anymore. That was the worst part. Ratchet wouldn't tell her what he'd done to save her, or why she couldn't eat, or why she always felt refreshed after just a few sips of strange, blue-green liquid that he refused to identify. She also didn't know why he was being so secretive. Hadn't she earned the right to know what he'd done to her?

"Still? But it's been over a week. You should be starting to feel more normal by now," came the stern, motherly voice of the only other adult woman on the Autobot base – Mrs. Darby, mother of Jack, who worked at the local fast food place and was also Arcee's human. Mrs. Darby was a nurse, so Lexi supposed she should know.

"With what she's been through? I'd be surprised if she felt completely back to normal in three weeks!" Ratchet exclaimed.

"Maybe you should tell me what I've been through, then," Lexi snapped, moving out from under her poor Malibu, which was raised on a lovely hydraulic lift that had been installed for her use. The mechanic glanced at the nurse, and then both women turned their glares on Ratchet. The Autobot medic turned all of his attention on the groundbridge controls once more.

"You don't need to know. You can't know," Ratchet muttered. Lexi barely heard him.

"Are you kidding? I have to know, you idiotic old coot, or I might just go insane!" Lexi suddenly shouted. "I can't control my own body, I have no idea how I or why I'm so strong now, and I can't eat actual food – just drink that stupid blue-green crap! I saved you, remember? I deserve to know!" Ratchet didn't turn away from the groundbridge.

"And I saved you, too. I'm the medic. I made a call, and I'm sticking to it," he growled.

"You wouldn't have had to have saved me if you hadn't snuck into my garage in the first place! Is your CPU fried? You're the medic? THEN TELL ME WHAT YOU DID BEFORE YOU END UP NEEDING ME TO FIX YOU AGAIN – WHICH I MIGHT NOT FEEL LIKE DOING!" Lexi screamed. Even Mrs. Darby backed away a bit at that, and Ratchet sighed and finally turned around.

"For your own good, Lexi, I am not going to tell you," he snapped angrily. "Can't you just trust me on this?"

"Trust you? Trust YOU? I feel like a machine thanks to you, and you won't even tell me what you did! Why should I trust you? And how about trusting me to know what I can and can't handle?" Lexi fired right back. Instead of shouting back like she expected him to – the medic had quite the temper, and Lexi had grown adept at triggering it as she pushed him to tell her what all he had done to save her – Ratchet stared at her in shock.

_What did I say?_ She thought, bewildered. She thought back, trying to figure out what had spooked him like that – because he certainly looked spooked. _I said I feel like a machine._

Lexi stared up at Ratchet in horror. _I feel like a machine_. Slowly, carefully, she lifted her right hand and stared at it. She had to be imagining the slight whir that accompanied the movement…didn't she?

"Ratchet, what is going on in there?" Optimus Prime entered the main room of the base. He caught sight of Lexi staring at her own hand in horror and Mrs. Darby staring at Ratchet and Ratchet staring at Lexi.

"A machine," the mechanic repeated softly. Her hand dropped, and she stared up at Ratchet again. "Ratchet, what am I?"

**That's the first chapter. Please review! Ideas/suggestions are welcome! Flames will be used to fix whatever Lexi accidentally breaks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two! Yay! **

**Disclaimer: I own only Lexi, which she's not happy about at the moment.**

Chapter 2: Alone time

They were all staring at each other. Lexi and Mrs. Darby were staring at Ratchet. Ratchet was staring at Lexi. Optimus was staring from Lexi to Ratchet and back again.

"What am I?" Lexi repeated softly, almost like she was scared to hear the answer.

"You're just the same as you were before," Ratchet told her. She blinked.

"That's a load of bull crap and we all know it, Ratchet," she said, numb from shock. "Tell me the truth."

"I think you owe it to Alexandra to tell her, old friend," Optimus put in gently. Ratchet forced himself to turn away.

"Is that an order, Optimus?" the medic asked. Prime hesitated.

"No." Lexi answered for him. She glared at Ratchet so fiercely that the medic backed up a step. "I don't want you to tell me because he said to. I want you to trust me and care enough to tell me yourself, without orders. I thought you were my friend, Ratchet. I didn't know you saving my life made you my keeper." Her voice, her expression, everything about her was distant, detached…unfeeling. Like a machine.

"Whoa. I think I walked in at the wrong time." Lexi didn't even glance in Jack's direction.

"I think so, too," Arcee agreed. "Let's go."

"No, stay," Lexi told them. "This conversation is done." Then she turned her back on Ratchet – and just about everyone else – and stalked past Jack and Arcee to the exit tunnel. She was going outside. Maybe she wasn't ready to face the world yet, but she wasn't going to stay inside with a medic who thought she was some weak, soft thing to be protected, either.

No one tried to stop her from leaving.

Lexi stared up at the sun, oddly depressed by the fact that she could look right at it and not even squint. She blinked as her eyes burned and felt moisture on her cheeks. She reached up to wipe it away, and her hand came back coated in a terribly familiar blue-green substance. It was the same substance that she drank now, the same substance that had once flowed freely from Ratchet's wounds as she worked to patch him up, the substance that she knew was poison to humans.

Energon. She was crying energon.

Lexi leaned back against a rocky outcropping outside the Autobot base and cried energon tears until she couldn't cry anymore.

Inside, she was screaming, but outwardly, she was almost completely silent.

After all, it wouldn't do to have someone find her.

_I need to know how much of me is human and how much is "synthetic",_ she thought. But she didn't know how to find out. It was clear Ratchet wasn't going to tell her, and something in her balked at asking anyone else.

"Lexi?" That was Jack's voice. She didn't answer, but he found her anyway. "Are you all right?"

"What are you, the team councilor?" she snapped. "I don't need your concern, burger boy." It was mean and she knew it, but she was a grown woman, and she didn't need some idiot teenager following her out and finding her crying.

"I know you don't. But you do need to come inside. It's getting dark," Jack said. Lexi didn't care, and she told him so. "Everyone's worried about you."

"Not Ratchet, surely," she spat. "Or maybe him most of all, because he thinks I can't handle knowing how much of me isn't human anymore. Does he think I'm afraid of the dark, too?" she asked bitterly. _And here I am, spilling my feelings and spewing my anger on a teenage boy. Oh, what a strong, mature woman I am,_ she thought savagely. She heard Jack sigh.

"Fine. Have it your way," he muttered. She heard him go back inside the base, and heard one of the resident giant alien robots come out a moment later.

"Alexandra Bruner!" Optimus Prime called. Lexi scowled. She hated being called by her full name. She was Lexi. Period.

_Go away, you overgrown station wagon,_ she thought but didn't say.

"Lexi, please come inside now," came Ratchet's voice. Lexi winced at the sound of it. He sounded…tired. Drained. Defeated.

_Serves him right,_ she thought, but there was no force behind it, and she knew it. It hurt to hear him sound like that. Gruff, mildly offensive, snappish, that was Ratchet. "Defeated" was not a quality she ever wanted to hear in his voice.

"Go on in, Prime. I'll find her and bring her in," Ratchet murmured.

"If you're sure, Ratchet," Prime sighed. Lexi squeezed her eyes shut. She felt like a five-year-old hiding from the teacher in kindergarten, and tried not to care.

"I'm sure. Lexi and I need to talk," the medic admitted. Lexi heard Prime go back inside. There was a moment of silence before Ratchet spoke again. "Lexi, if you won't come out, will you at least listen?" Ratchet called softly. Lexi didn't answer. The medic took that as a 'yes'. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how much damage Airachnid did."

_Not as much damage as you've done,_ the mechanic thought angrily.

"If I'd thought, and checked everything completely before I started, maybe I wouldn't have had to do so much to keep you alive. I don't know. But I admit I should have told you what I did, and I'm sorry." Lexi lifted her head slightly.

Ratchet? Admitting he was wrong? Apologizing?

"You said you feel like a machine. You should. I wasn't able to replace your human organs with anything that remotely resembles human anatomy. Most of your skeleton had been crushed, and your organs with it. The only way to save you was to replace what was damaged."

"Why?" Lexi rasped involuntarily. "Why did you do it?"

"Because I couldn't just stand there and let you die," the medic answered. Lexi pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, then rested her head on her knees. She felt like a little kid who had scraped an elbow and had to have stitches. She didn't understand why the thread – or in this case, whatever Ratchet had replaced her insides with – was in her, and she suddenly wanted it _out_. She didn't want to have "replacements". She didn't want to have a grip so strong it crushed things like oil filters. She didn't even want to know that there were alien robots on her planet.

At that moment, all Lexi wanted was for everything – from the base, to the robots, to the talking ambulance she'd found in her garage a week and a half before – to be nothing more than the dream she had originally thought it was.

"I want to go home," she whispered. "I want to work on cars, and worry about whether I'm going to eat Ramen noodles of macaroni and cheese for supper, and when the bills are due, and whether or not I've fixed enough cars to pay them. I want to go to church and sing along with the radio…and just be normal." Somehow, Ratchet heard her, even though she'd barely even heard herself.

"I'm sorry, Lexi. Your home and garage were destroyed by the Decepticons the day after I brought you to the base," he told her. That wasn't the information the mechanic had wanted him to tell her – it wasn't information she'd ever want to hear in her entire life – and she could hardly believe it.

_It can't be true,_ she thought wildly. _It can't be. He's lying._

_ Ratchet wouldn't lie to me,_ part of her whispered.

_He's keeping secrets – he didn't even tell me this until now. Why shouldn't this be a lie?_ Another part replied.

_Because he believed he was doing what was best,_ Lexi admitted. _That's why he still hasn't told me exactly what he's done. But he wouldn't lie like this._

And that was the heart of the matter. Lexi believed Ratchet was wrong, but Ratchet believed he was doing what was right for her. Her eyes burned again, but apparently she didn't have any energon tears left, because burn as they might, her eyes didn't fill and spill over.

"No," she whispered.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Lexi. Come inside. I have something to show you," Ratchet added. Suddenly totally, completely, utterly numb, Lexi got up and walked through the darkness to the medic. She could see in the dark just fine, she realized. She watched him as he crouched down and offered her his hand. Wearily, because she couldn't think of anything else to do – couldn't think at all, really – she climbed onto his hand and let him carry her back inside the base.

**Sorry, I know that was a long chapter and that it still didn't completely explain what happened to Lexi, but there will be more details next chapter. Please review! Flames will be used to make s'mores, or maybe melt Decepticons, or maybe burn all those stupid worksheets and notes from this school year!**

**Don't forget to vote on which OC should star in my next fanfic!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Four! Let me know if you think I should continue with this story, do a different story with the same characters, or move on to a different verse for a while.**

** Disclaimer: I tried to get Lexi to help me steal ownership of the TFs, but she won't. **

Chapter 4: Still Me

Ratchet carried Lexi back into the base, his spark heavy. He should have known that he couldn't keep the truth from her for long. He lifted her to sit on his shoulder and made his way to the main computer. He needed to tell her what he'd done.

"So…you said you couldn't replace my insides with anything resembling human insides," Lexi said. "What exactly did you mean by that?" Ratchet booted up the main computer.

"I used Cybertronian technology, theories, and the like, with Earth materials, to rebuild most of your body's inner workings," the medic admitted. He pulled up the blueprints he had saved from his work when he had rebuilt her.

"Then how am I still me?" Lexi asked. "Am I still me?"

"Yes. Your brain was one of the few things that escaped Airachnid's grip. Your memories, your personality, are still intact. You just have to learn how to control the mechanical parts of your body," he told her. She stared at the blueprints.

_If this were anyone else, if he hadn't kept this from me for more than a week, this might seem pretty cool,_ she admitted to herself. _Like something out of a science fiction book._

"None of me looks mechanical," Lexi pointed out. "I look just the same as I ever did." Ratchet nodded. She could hear the pride in his voice when he answered.

"One of the miracles of energon when mixed with your new part-organic, part-technological body, apparently," he said.

"Like when I fixed your self-repair systems," Lexi realized. "There was no sign of the welds I made." Ratchet nodded again.

"I suppose so," he agreed. He was silent for a long moment. Then he said seriously, "I am sorry, Lexi. I keep forgetting that while humans are not as physically sturdy as we Autobots, our species are much the same in other ways. More important ways." The mechanic sighed.

"Proud, easy to offend, and sometimes stupid and insensitive?" she guessed. To her surprise, ratchet laughed.

"I suppose so," he said again. "Though that's not what I meant." Lexi reached out and put a hand on her friend's neck, since that was the most accessible part right then.

"I know what you meant. Just keep in mind, rustbucket, I can handle a lot more than you would think, and I don't appreciate you deciding what I can and can't do or know. If you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will personally deactivate your hard drive, disconnect your sparkplugs, and fill your air intake with Jell-O," she threatened.

"Jell-O?" Ratchet repeated, amused in spite of himself. "What is Jell-O?"

"Google it," Lexi replied. "You're supposed to have a super computer for a brain, aren't you?" With that, she launched herself sideways off his shoulder. He let you a strangled yell and tried to catch her, but she twisted in midair and hit the ground, rolling with the impact. She got to her feet, brushed herself off, and darted away.

She wanted to go to the training room she knew the Autobots had somewhere around the base. She needed to get the hang of her new abilities, and fast. Or she might accidentally damage something if she had to put Jell-O in Ratchet's air intake.

Because humans have to practice things like that, and for all intents and purposes, as far as she could tell, she was still human. And that was truly cause for celebration, she thought. That, and maybe some Jell-O.

**Well, what does everyone think? Was that last line too random? Good? Bad? Continue? Do a crack fic with these characters? Or come up with some disaster for Lexi to save them from with her new awesome abilities? Review! Or It'll be YOUR air intake Lexi fills with Jell-O! Flames will be used to boil water for the Jell-O!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Lexi ducked, rolled, and came to her feet in time to leap straight up in the air higher than any normal human being would be able to.

_I'm still human inside, and yet I'm not, _she thought. That thought didn't hold the anger, hurt, and – yes, she could admit it now, fear – that it would have just a few days before. Lexi had been training – not to fight, but to dodge attacks, mostly – and getting used to her new part-human, part-machine body.

Of course, anyone who looked at her would see a human woman and some oil and energon stains from her other training as a mechanic/medic. Lexi had decided to appreciate what Ratchet had done, since he blamed himself plenty.

Lexi grinned. She could control her new body much better now, after a few days of rigorous physical training. Just that morning she had finished the last of the maintenance and repairs her Malibu needed – without accidentally crushing anything.

"Lexi?" Ratchet's voice called. Lexi grinned and followed the voice to the main room of the Autobot base.

"What's up, Ratchet?" she asked. The medic reached down and offered her his hand, which she hopped neatly onto. He lifted her up so she could see the monitor. She examined the readout and frowned. "Is that…" she trailed off uncertainly.

"An Autobot energy signature, yes," Ratchet sighed. "And it's not one I recognize."

"is that good or bad?" Lexi inquired curiously. Ratchet grimaced.

"That depends on who gets to the bot first – us or the Cons," he replied. "And Prime and the others are out on a mission."

"Can't we just bridge them to the new bot's location?" Lexi asked.

"We could…if he wasn't moving," Ratchet answered. "But he's been on the move since I picked up his signal ten minutes ago. From the speed, I'd say he's flying if I didn't know better."

"Can Autobots not fly?" Lexi asked. Ratchet grunted and lifted her to perch on his shoulder.

"They can if they have a flying alt-mode," he answered. "But flying is a Decepticon trick. Most Autobots prefer wheels. There are a couple triple-changers I've heard of who can fly, and then there are the Arialbots, who all fly, but that's pretty much it. Autobots belong on the ground." Lexi considered this for a moment.

"Could it be one of these Arialbots? Or a triple-changer?" she asked. Ratchet nearly shrugged, but thought better of it at the last moment.

"It could be, but I doubt it. The Arialbots are a team of five. They're a gestalt, and I've never heard of them being apart for more than a few groons, and never out of sensor range of each other. As for the triple-changers…they worked with the Wreckers. One of them was even the second in command. I really doubt we could be unlucky enough to have _three_ Wreckers here in the same meta-cycle," Ratchet muttered. Lexi grinned.

"You just can't stand not knowing, can you?" she asked playfully. Ratchet had to strain his neck a bit to glare at her, but he managed it.

"you just can't let anything go, can you?" he growled. Lexi beamed up at him.

"If you think I'm bad, you should meet my sister. She's ten times worse than me," Lexi told him cheerfully.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Ratchet commented. Lexi shrugged.

"I haven't seen her in three or four years, ever since she got promoted to junior agent. She works for the government," Lexi explained.

"Fowler might know her," Ratchet suggested. Lexi shook her head.

"Probably not. There's as much chance of Fowler knowing my sister as there is of that signal being one of those triple-changers you mentioned," she told him. "Loads of people work for the government in one way or another."

A short woman with long red hair braided neatly down her back and bright blue eyes piloted her helicopter with the ease of someone who had had the same one for years, and flown often.

_"So are you going to tell me what your new assignment is?"_ asked her companion over the Bluetooth device in her ear. She smiled. She hadn't known if the Bluetooth would fit under the headset she wore because of the helicopter noise, but it had. That was good; her friend hated not being able to talk to her. And yes, she would admit it in the safety of her own head, she hated it when she couldn't talk to him, too.

"Nope. Not yet, anyway. I got assigned to a new senior partner – I guess Parkinson got tired of me not responding to his taunts, and requested a different junior partner – and that's all you need to know right now," the woman answered cheerfully. She was enjoying this. Usually, it was her companion who knew something she didn't; people never noticed him, and even if they did, they never suspected he could hear them. It was nice to be able to torture him by withholding information for a change.

_"Has anyone ever told you it's rude to keep secrets?"_ he muttered. She grinned.

"Yes. Actually, I usually tell you that," she reminded him. "Fair's fair." Then, together, because it had become a running joke between them, they sang together, _"Secrets, secrets, are no fun, unless you share with everyone."_

_"So…will you tell me now?"_ he pleaded. _"Please?"_

"Nope!" the woman chirped. "Besides, we're almost there. You'll know soon enough. I'll try to get my new senior partner to travel in my chopper," she added graciously. Her companion let out a sharp bark of a laugh.

_"Gee, thanks; it's just what I wanted!"_ he exclaimed sarcastically. She laughed and guided the chopper down.

"It stopped moving," Lexi observed. "We could go and collect him now." Ratchet shook his head.

"No. The others aren't back yet. And you and I aren't equipped to handle Decepticons. Maybe they haven't picked up the signal yet. If not, and we show up, they'll certainly notice two Autobot signals in the same place," the medic pointed out. The woman on his shoulder sighed.

"I guess you're right. I just hope the others get back soon."

"Me, too, Lexi. Me, too," Ratchet replied.

**So! Any guesses on the identity of the mysterious new Cybertronian? How about the mystery woman in the helicopter? Anyone who can name all three Autobot triple-changers and/or correctly guess the name of the mystery bot and/or woman gets bonus points! I have a poll on my profile on what OC I should do a story for next. Please vote! And don't forget to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Now I believe some introductions are in order. But first…**

**Bonus points to:**

**Ratchetsfangirl for correctly I. all 3 Autobot triple-changers, guessing the ID of the mystery 'bot, and guessing the ID of the mystery woman.**

**JazzGirl221 for knowing the mystery woman's name**

**Blitz-Krazi-1 for knowing the triple-changer that matters**

**Disclaimer: I think Ratchet built it into the groundbridge controls. He won't let me have it back…and I think he did it in revenge for the Jell-O revenge thing…oops.**

Chapter Five

A green and yellow helicopter landed at a military base in Nevada. As the rotors slowed and stopped spinning, a young woman with her red hair pulled back in a neat braid got out. She looked around as though expecting someone to greet her. A few base personnel glanced at her, but didn't stop their work to talk to her. She frowned.

_"Is he invisible, or am I missing something?"_ her companion asked cheekily through the Bluetooth device in her ear. She glanced over her shoulder to scowl in the general direction of her helicopter.

"Shut up. I have no idea where he is," she growled. "He was supposed to meet me here, though." She sighed and strode purposefully away from her chopper. "Lock up, will you? I don't want anyone poking through my stuff." A low chuckle floated over the earpiece.

_"Sure, Laura."_ The woman walked right into an the base, flashing her ID at the guards, and stalked to the office where she knew she would find someone who would answer her questions. Questions like "where the slag is my new partner?"

"Thank you for your time, Agent Fowler," someone was saying. The door to the office opened, and a tall, heavyset, dark-skinned man in a gray business suit stepped out.

"Oh, brother," the woman sighed. "I really hope you weren't in there complaining about me. I haven't even started my job yet." The man blinked down at her.

"What? Who are you?" he demanded. She pulled out her ID and showed it to him.

"My name is Laura Bruner. I'm your new junior partner," she told him briskly. The man gaped at her.

"I didn't ask for a new partner. In fact, I've never had a partner," he said, bewildered. The woman shrugged.

"I'm sorry to hear that. However, my orders are to work with you on your big top-secret project, and I was informed that you would be showing me to the project site today," she informed him calmly. He frowned. She raised an eyebrow. He sighed and pulled out a cell phone.

"Prime? We've got another situation," he muttered. "Tell the others to get ready for an introduction. I'll take her chopper to the base, since you brought me here. Her name is Laura Bruner," he added. Laura Bruner, junior government agent, smiled.

_"Prime? Did that man just say Prime?"_ her companion demanded. She ignored him.

"Well, Agent Bruner, if you'll show me to your chopper – I assume you have one? – I'll give you directions to the base."

"optimus' signal is right by the one we've been picking up," Lexi observed. Ratchet shook his head. He hated it when things didn't make sense.

_::Optimus to Ratchet. Fowler says to prepare for an introduction. He is bringing someone to the base, a Laura Bruner. They'll probably get there before I do, because they are taking the new person's helicopter.::_

"Helicopter?" Ratchet repeated. Lexi hummed thoughtfully.

"Do you think it might be the mystery bot?" she asked. The signal on the screen began moving toward the base.

"I guess so," Ratchet sighed. Lexi glanced at his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Well, none of the Arialbots transform into helicopters. The only Autobots who do are Sandstorm, Springer…and Whirl, who is also a Wrecker, and a nasty piece of work, and really doesn't like Optimus, but fortunately, he hasn't been heard from since he was sentenced to G-9," the medic told his human friend. Lexi tilted her head.

"So when will we know?" she asked.

"As soon as we get a visual. If he's orange, yellow, and red, it's Sandstorm. If it's yellow and green, it's Springer. Personally, I'm hoping for sandstorm – he's a good bot. But Springer…" the medic trailed off.

"What?"

"Springer and I don't get along," the medic muttered. "he likes to give people nicknames." Lexi grimaced.

"I feel your pain. Who did Prime say the human was that Fowler's bringing?" she added curiously.

"Laura Bruner," the medic replied. "Why?"  
"Because my sister and I don't get along, either," Lexi admitted. "I haven't seen her in years. And last time I saw her, she was getting into the pilot's seat of a shiny new yellow and green helicopter."

Ratchet wondered if he could bang his helm slowly and repeatedly on something for a while before the people to be 'introduced' arrived.

A sky blue mustang pulled out of the military base's parking lot behind the big semi cab. It was driven by a woman in an army dress uniform, but with powder-blue hair. The guards let both vehicles through without looking too closely at the drivers.

If they had looked closer, they might have noticed the strange color of the woman's hair…and the fact that she flickered.

If the semi had checked his rearview mirror, he might have noticed someone following him. At least until he got within a mile of the Autobot base. Then the Mustang slowed, stopped, and turned around.

The flickering driver smiled.

_Good to know my cloaking system works,_ she thought. _Though not being noticed for the appearance of my driver and form is almost insulting._

**That's this chapter! Please review! Bonus points to anyone who:**

** Can tell me what IDW miniseries G-9 is from**

** Can correctly guess the ID of the person who followed O.P. back to base**

** Can guess why Springer's fondness for nicknames might irritate Ratchet**

** Can tell me why Whirl and Optimus wouldn't get along**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay! Bonus points!**

**Ratchetsfangirl – for guessing why Springer and Ratchet wouldn't get along**

**T'Reilani – for knowing my comic trivia, and why Ratchet wouldn't like Springer**

**Disclaimer: I think Laura's helicopter landed on it…its kinda flat…but I still don't own the Transformers… I own Laura and Lexi though! Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!**

Chapter 6:

Laura Bruner smiled as she guided her helicopter over the Nevada desert.

"So…Fowler…is your top-secret project something to do with towns that could be mistaken for smudges on a map?" she asked.

_"You know it's not, not if he really did say 'Prime'!"_ her companion snapped. Her senior partner, Fowler, glanced at her, but he hadn't heard her friend's comment.

"No," he said shortly. "That's Jasper. Keep flying." She grinned.

"Do you study cacti?" she asked.

"No."

"Rocks?"

"No. Land there, on that mesa," he added grumpily. Laura obliged, guiding the chopper down to the landing pad on the indicated mesa. When the blades stopped spinning, both government agents got out. Fowler led Laura to an outcropping with what appeared to be elevator doors set into it. Fowler swiped his I.D. card, and the door opened.

"Elevators?" she asked. He looked at her. "Is that what you're studying?" she clarified. He shook his head.

"I'm an agent, not a scientist," he growled. He ran his I.D. through a scanner, and the doors opened.

"So…developing elevators?" Laura guessed. Fowler looked like he was ready to pound his head slowly and repeatedly against the outcropping. Instead, he stepped into the elevator. Laura followed him, feeling very cheerful.

"No. Shut up," the senior agent ordered. The elevator started moving. Laura gave him a mocking salute. The elevator stopped moving.

"Yes, sir, senior agent, sir," she chirped. The elevator doors opened again.

"Shut up, Bruner," Fowler snarled.

"What was that, S.A.F.?" demanded a new voice.

"I said, 'shut up, Bruner'," Fowler repeated, louder.

"I hope you're not talking to me, because I could squish you and you know it," the new voice snapped. "Seeing as how I've got cybernetic replacements throughout my body and all." Laura tilted her head. That voice seemed strangely familiar, but she hadn't hear it in five years or more. Who…

"_Lexi_?" Laura gasped. She bolted out of the elevator and faced the speaker. Red hair, blue-green eyes, oil-covered hands and clothes, fists on her hips…

"_Laura_?" she yelped. "What are you doing here?"

"I got assigned to work under the Foul One," Laura answered. "What are _you_ doing here? I thought you said you'd never work for the government, but here you are, at a government agent's work site!"

"I live here now," Lexi Bruner, mechanic, replied. "I fix stuff. I'm Ratchet's human."

"Ratchet's human?" Laura Bruner, junior government agent, repeated. _No, it can't be. I can't possibly be this lucky,_ she thought. "Who's Ratchet?"

"S.A.F. didn't tell you before you came?" Lexi whispered, eyes wide.

"Lexi? Is that Fowler?" came another new voice – this one sort of mechanical and masculine.

"Yeah, it's him – and he brought his new partner," Lexi called back. "Come meet her.'

"Her?" the voice repeated. Laura heard a series of loud, rhythmic thumps. A huge, red-and-white robot appeared, stomping toward the three humans.

"This is Ratchet," Fowler announced.

Laura stared up at the Autobot medic.

"Springer's not the only one," she whispered.

** Sorry this one's so short. I promise the next one will be longer, but I've been working on Desert Sunrise a lot, so, yeah…**

** Anyway, remember to vote for your favorite generation on my profile, and check out my Halo ficlet challenge!**


	7. Chapter 7

**All right, here we go, back to Lexi and Laura!**

**This chapter is dedicated to KnockOut'sFanGirl221, who has persevered in requesting an update.**

**And to Anonymous BW Fangirl: I'm glad you like Lexi. She really enjoys having people say how awesome she is.**

**Disclaimer: I own Laura and Lexi and that is all. I would be depressed over this, except that those two are a handful and I have no clue what I would do if I owned this whole crew.**

Chapter 7

"Excuse me for a minute," Laura Burner, Junior Government Agent squeaked, staring from her older sister, Lexi, to the giant alien robot, Ratchet, to her senior partner, Fowler, and back again. Then she whirled around and dashed back into the elevator, back up to the top of the plateau that disguised the Autobot base.

When the elevator doors opened, Laura raced to her green and yellow helicopter. She leaned against its nose, gasping in shock.

_"Laura? What's wrong?"_ asked her companion over her Bluetooth device. Laura turned to face the helicopter and lowered her voice.

"You aren't the only one," she whispered.

_"Laura, I told you that already. You knew there were others like me, probably even on this planet,"_ her friend pointed out.

"Yeah, but the others are _here_," she told him anxiously. "And my sister's down there, perfectly at home with a big red and white mech she called Ratchet." An odd rumbling sound shook the helicopter almost imperceptibly. "Don't laugh at me, rust bucket!" she snapped, but she was grinning, too. "Can you believe it? I think we found them! Didn't you mention a Ratchet as one of your allies?"

_"Yeah, we call him The Hatchet,"_ her friend replied cheerfully. _"So did you tell them I was up here?"_

"Of course not! I won't reveal your secret, even to people I'm sure are on your side," she reminded him. "I just asked to be excused for a moment and came back up here."

_"So the Foul One's project is what?"_ her friend asked.

"I think he's their liaison to and from the government," the human woman answered.

_"So shall we go introduce ourselves properly?"_ her companion asked. Laura grinned.

"Sure, why not? Though you'll have to find another way in besides that elevator; I don't think you'll fit. I'll go back down and ask how the bots get in and out, then contact you and let you know where to go," she added happily. "Did you ever think we'd really find them?"

_"No, I didn't. I honestly didn't expect them to be findable,"_ her companion answered. _"Would you go and find that entrance already?"_

"Findable? Is that even a word?" Laura muttered. But she turned around and headed into the elevator for the third time.

"Here she comes again," Lexi murmured as the elevator descended. "Saf, you really didn't tell her before you brought her here?" The mechanic glared at the senior agent, who shrugged.

"I didn't want to risk a security breach," he replied. "Besides, she's been your sister a whole lot longer than she's been my junior partner. How come you didn't bring her in on this when you found out?"

"Because I haven't seen her in years. We never really got along – personally, I think we're too much alike – and when she became a government agent, well…the last time I saw her, she was getting into the pilot's seat of a shiny new yellow and green government helicopter."

"And you were all covered in oil from that crazy Malibu of yours," Laura put in as the elevator doors opened. "Hello again, Alexandra. How are you today? I'm great. I just found out my sister finally clued in to the fact that there are giant alien robots on our planet."

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand slagging times, don't call me Alexandra! My name is Lexi!" Lexi snapped. Laura gave her sister a small, devious smile.

"Really? And here I thought 'Alexandra' was the name on your fragging birth certificate, sister dear," she countered.

"Wait a minute. You just said Lexi 'finally clued in' to the Autobots. What did you mean by that?" Fowler demanded. Laura ignored him, focusing on Ratchet.

"So, Ratchet, how would a newcomer to your team get into the base?" she asked. Ratchet blinked.

"Through the entrance tunnel on the south side of the base," he answered. Laura grinned.

"Did you get that?" she inquired over the Bluetooth.

_"Got it. I'm coming in,"_ her companion told her happily.

"Who are you talking to?" Ratchet demanded.

"A friend of mine," Laura answered mysteriously. "So, Hatchet, are you the only Autobot here, or are there others?"

"There are currently five Autobots stationed at this outpost," Fowler replied, breaking into the conversation, apparently distracted from wondering what his junior partner had meant about her sister 'finally cluing in'.

"What did you just call me?" Ratchet bellowed. Lexi eyed her friend nervously. Was he going to glitch or bust a gasket or something?

"Hatchet!" the reply didn't come from the human woman still standing near the elevator. Instead, it came from a tall green and yellow mech who strolled into the main room of the Autobot base.

"Springer! It's about time you found your way in here!" Laura called cheerfully. Ratchet spluttered at the repeated use of his hated nickname, Fowler gaped at the newcomer who bore a disturbing resemblance to the helicopter he had ridden in to get there, and Lexi stared up at her sister's friend in astonishment. Springer ignored them all and walked over to Laura, offering her his hand. She hopped up, and he gently lifted her so she could jump to his shoulder. Together, they faced their stunned audience.

Optimus Prime drove steadily toward the Autobot outpost. Behind him came a sky blue mustang whose "driver" flickered every minute and a half. At the perimeter of the area scanned by the base, Prime tapped into the scanners and suddenly slammed on his brakes. The scanners said he was being followed by an unknown vehicle, one that only registered on the visual scanner.

According to all Cybertronian technology, all usual means of detecting intruders, the car didn't exist. But now that Prime checked his mirrors, he could see the sky blue car following him. He transformed, knowing that he had to face whatever threat the car posed in his robot form. He couldn't fight in vehicle mode, and something – or someone – capable of deceiving the base's scanners was probably going to put up a fight.

The vehicle stopped about a hundred feet from him, idled for a moment, then spun around and drove back the way it had come – away from the base, toward Jasper.

In Jasper, a teenage girl sat on the sidewalk outside a fast food restaurant, watching the road.

"Hey, are you new in town? I don't think I've seen you before," an unfamiliar voice said behind her. Instantly, the girl was on her feet, spinning to face the person who'd addressed her. It was a teenage guy with black hair, who stood beside a blue and pink motorcycle.

"What do you want?" the girl demanded. The boy shrugged.

"I don't want anything, I guess. I just saw you sitting there and wondered what you were doing," he answered. The girl scowled so fiercely that the boy backed up a step, hands raised defensively."Hey, sorry. I'll leave you alone," he assured her. Then he got onto his bike and sped away.

When he glanced back, he wondered what it was about the girl that had caught his eye.

The girl knew. She looked down at her clothes. They looked like normal clothes – a T-shirt and worn jeans – except they shimmered slightly, like the rest of her. She grimaced.

_I need a new holo-generator,_ she thought grimly.

_We'll have to steal one. Maybe the Autobots will have one we can borrow,_ came the answer. The girl smiled at the voice in her head.

_Did you find their base, then?_ She asked.

_I know where it is. We'll have to figure out a way in; I was seen before they revealed the entrance._

A sky blue mustang pulled up beside the girl. The driver winked out of existence, and the girl climbed into the driver's seat. The door closed on its own.

The girl's image wavered again. With a mental shrug, she let her disguise fall.

Her skin was dotted with what looked sort of like freckles, but they were metal. Her clothes had been replaced with armor, some pure white, some the same sky blue as the Mustang. She tossed her hair – which was short, and uneven, like she'd had her head shaved and then let the hair grow back however it would.

Her eyes glowed green.

_We'll figure it out. We've survived this long, haven't we?_ Whether that thought came from the girl or something – someone – else, she wasn't certain. It was hard to tell sometimes, she reflected.

_Don't worry, Alanna._ That thought definitely came from outside the girl's head, but it spoke right into her mind.

_ I'm not worried, exactly. I'm just tense. Seriously, I'm fine, Moonracer._

**Voila! New twists, new people, lots of new fun! Please let me know what you think! I know Moonracer in G1 was kind of turquoise, but I decided to change her color scheme to sky blue and white for some reason. I can't remember why.**

** Anyway, trivia time!**

** There were five femmes named in the G1 cartoon. Which mechs were they paired with (canon pairings, my readers!) **

** The femmes were: Elita 1, Moonracer, Chromia, Arcee, and Firestar.**

** Everyone should be able to get at least one of these! No excuses! (unless you really don't know. In which case, don't feel bad. Just read more fanfictions than non-TFs-fans would recommend)**


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